tonight, two big stories, sandy and the election. the kacandidates on a cross

country tour of the battleground states, including here in the d.c. area. >> he's offering excuses, i'm offering a plan. >> people further north wait for hours to fill up their cars. >> i don't understand why he cut the line. >> the death toll from sandy rising, but there are amazing stories of survivor. >> i'm lucky i got out. >> good evening, i'm chris gordon in for jim rosenfield who is on assignment tonight on staten island. his story coming up. a live look outside. it feels like we haven't seen the sun in weeks, storm team four meteorologist chuck bell is in our weather center. any chance for sun tomorrow? >> i'm holding out optimism we will get more sunshine tomorrow than we had today. and that will be more sunshine than we've seen in the better part of a week and a half around

here. it won't do much to ease the chill, but even so, a little sunshine will help lift everyone's spirits a touch. for now, though, it is chilly outside. temperatures already back down into the upper 30s and mid-40s. temperatures will continue to slide back another 5 to 7 degrees during the overnight hours. storm team 4 shows no rain in the immediate metropolitan area, there are raindrops across much of southwestern and south central virginia, these are not coming toward us, but there are a few drops up there across eastern ohio, which will provide us, if nothing else, a little extra blanket of cloud cover during the overnight hours tonight. off to a cold start, 30s in the morning. but sunshine for a nice change of pace tomorrow afternoon. a little more sunshine than we've seen in the last couple days. highs tomorrow barely cracking 50 degrees. we'll talk about how long the chill's going to last. and the potential for a mid week coastal storm coming up. >> see you later, chuck. one of the biggest problems in the wake of hurricane sandy

continues to be a gas crisis in the northeast. today the national guard started giving out free gas in new york city and long island mostly to emergency responders. there was confusion and more frustration in new jersey where they're still rationing fuel. some good news, about 80% of new york's subway system is back up and running. and four more new jersey transit rail lines will be open tomorrow. nationwide sandy has killed 111 people, and more than 2 million are still without power. news 4's jim rosenfield has been on assignment all week for us in the new jersey/new york area covering sandy's impact. today he spoke to a man on staten island, new york. who says he's lucky to be alive after barely escaping the flooding caused by the storm. the stuff that once made up a home now in a heap in parts of

staten island. >> we have nothing. >> reporter: kelly and her husband scott wait outside their battered home. >> you've been sitting on the stoop for how long waiting? >> about two and a half hours. >> waiting hours for an appointment with fema to survey the damage here. a wait ackerman doesn't mind. >> i'm just happy i survived this. i'm very grateful to be alive right now. >> reporter: after his sudden cold plunge into the storm surge that enveloped his house monday night. >> i was in the water for two and a half hours. there was no light so i couldn't see anything to grab on to. even if i wanted to grab something, i couldn't see it. >> reporter: rescued by firefighters, he comforts others here. grateful to see help arriving for this beleaguered borough. this parking lot has turned into one stop shopping from food, clothing and household items. >> what are you breathing today? >> toys and a snow suit for a

kid. clothes, just to try to help out as much as i can. it's sad. >> reporter: sad but after days of crying out for help, suddenly those who are dealing with this don't feel quite so alone. on staten island, new york, jim rosenfield, news 4. >> the red cross in fairfax county sent three emergency response vehicles to west virginia today. these volunteers are going to help people who lost power from high winds and heavy snowfall from sandy. they'll hand out hot meals, drinks and cleaning supplies. nationwide, more than half of the red cross emergency fleet has been deployed. a church congregation in northwest d.c. offered a prayer to end donations for sandy's victims tonight. this is first baptist church for the city of washington. they held a prayer vigil and had a special offering for the victims, volunteers and first responders. stay with news 4 and nbc

washington.com for the latest on hurricane sandy's impact. to help storm victims, you can go to red cross.org. can you call 1-800-help-now or text the word red cross to 90999 to make a $10 donation. two women attacked in the district in less than two weeks and one of those attacks happened in a college dorm room. tonight students we talked to want to know how the suspect got in. plus, puppets all over the national mall today. the mess

at this hour, there are still some streets in the heart of downtown bethesda shut down

because of a water main break. arlington road between old georgetown road and edge more lane is blocked for repairs. a ten inch main broke this morning. eight homes were affected. officials say they expect to reopen the road sometime tomorrow morning. police say they have the man responsible for attacking two women in the district last week. one of those attacks happened inside a howard university dorm room yesterday. howard officials tell us they are boosting security after the alleged assault. but as darcie spencer reports. students are still wondering how the suspect got into the dorm. >> a 19-year-old howard university student was raped here inside her dorm room at 1:15 friday afternoon. some students are asking how the suspect was able to get in the all women dorm and commit this violent crime. >> i do think the security really needs to step it up. it's really scary. >> police arrested the suspect

friday night charging him with first degree sex assault. a police report obtained by news 4 says the victim was attacked after the suspect appeared in her room and tried to have a conversation with her. it said she repeatedly asked him to leave, but he assaulted her while armed with a brass knuckle style knife. >> any idea how this guy got in your build something. >> i really have no clue, honestly. we're supposed to be having a meeting about it tomorrow, so we'll figure everything out. >> the doors are locked, you need a security card to get in. how did the suspect get inside this dormitory? police at this point are not saying. he's also been charged in an attempted sex assault and stabbing on another woman who remains in the hospital. at a press conference, d.c. police would not answer questions about how miles picked his victims. he left a piece of evidence behind at the howard dorm leading to his arrest, but they wouldn't say what that was. >> i can't tell you what the evidence was, because the investigation although closed

with an arrest is ongoing. in northwest washington, darcie spencer, news 4. howard university is hosting a town hall meeting tomorrow afternoon at the dorm, to answer questions and address any concerns. still ahead tonight, puppets on the mall. the message these play full puppets had for our politicians. and it was another cloudy and cold day today. what it looks like right now, chuck is back to tell us if the second half of the wee

presidential candidates

criss-crossing the country in the days before the election. here's a live look at the president speaking right now. capped off a long day of campaigning for both candidates, mitt romney travelled from new hampshire to iowa to colorado. president obama made stops in ohio, wisconsin and iowa. northern virginia bureau chief julie carrie explains how the candidates are spending their final three days on the trail. >> the president's rally was his fourth battleground stop of the day pep travelled to ohio, wisconsin and iowa before wrapping up the day in northern virginia. before mr. obama arrived, there were two warmup acts of sorts for those who waited in the cold. dave matthews and former president bill clinton started things off. it was the president who drew thousands here tonight. and this was part of his final pitch. >> a spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, we bounce back. no matter how tough times are, we're all in this together. the romney campaign is spending even more of its final days in

virginia. today it was paul ryan who headlined rallies for the gop ticket in richmond. with paul showing virginia the closest of battlegrounds, ryan appealed directly for help in turning out the vote. >> when we talk to that friend, relative, neighbor, the light, hope, change in 2008 and know now it was an empty promise. we will wake up on the morning of wednesday november 7th and know we met the moment as a country. >> this is president ball's last scheduled visit before the election. the vice president comes to sterling on monday. and mitt romney spends the next two days in the commonwealth, he'll be in fairfax on monday. julie carrie, news 4. mitt romney was in colorado for a campaign rally, a denver post survey usa poll shows president obama with a slight lead in this state. romney asked the crowd for their support on election day. and he criticized the president's recent comments about voting.

>> you probably heard about this. he asked his supporters to vote for revenge. i asked the american people to vote for love of country. >> tomorrow romney will travel to iowa, ohio, pennsylvania and virginia for campaign rallies. muppets and puppets of all shapes and sizes made their way from sesame street to capitol hill today. they rallied in support of funding for public broadcasting. organizers say the event was inspired by comments mitt romney made during the first presidential debate about wanting to nix funding for pbs. >> big bird is a puppet. and not a political issue. and we should have widespread public support for all the public media, and it's important for democracy to do that. >> organizers say there were 1500 attendees at today's march. the event was not affiliated

with pbs. chuck bell is here, and i'm going to guess the redskins are a winner? >> they need sunshine and mild weather. i think tomorrow's weather is going to favor the home team for sure. outside tonight it is chilly. the ferocious wind we've been dealing with for days and days is finally starting to ease up just a little bit. and i think you'll really appreciate the difference tomorrow. it's not going to be that much warmer tomorrow than it was today. but a little more sunshine and a little less wind. and i think you'll appreciate being outside tomorrow a lot more than today. still 44 in washington, winds out of the west averaging five miles an hour. and generally low to mid-40s across the region for now. with a bit of a clearing sky and fading breeze. i think most of the areas to the west of i-95 will be in the 40s by the morning. most of us are focused tomorrow on the redskins game, 1:00 to 4:00 at fedex field.

temperatures mid to upper 40s with sunny breaks, still awfully chilly. a bit of a northwesterly breeze tomorrow, nowhere near as strong as it's been the last couple days. not a lot going on around our area. these are false returns on the radar. real raindrops across parts of central and southwestern virginia. these are headed down toward hampton roads and tidewater. these won't be bothering us. clouds, yes, but not much of anything in the way of a rainfall chance during the overnight hours. the clearing sky, we'll be off to a cold start on sunday morning. with a little extra sunshine tomorrow, you're really going to appreciate the way the day looks. with this area of low pressure skirting off the coastline as it pulls away, it allows more and more sunshine as the day wears along during the day tomorrow. today, most of the sunshine was in northern virginia. tomorrow, i think the old line state of maryland will get the bulk of the sunshine. high pressure settles in, another cool start monday morning.

way nice quiet start to the workweek monday. the aeastern seaboard looks nice and quiet. all eyes are focused on the wednesday to thursday time frame. it looks like a low to medium impact for now, with a lot of wind and rain along the coastline, there may be a little bit of a snow chance in the high spots north and west of town. overnight, partly cloudy, don't forget to move your clocks back tonight. lows in the 30s. change the battery in the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector as well. tomorrow, chilly, struggling to get above 50 degrees. keeping a close eye on the wednesday/thursday time frame. looks like a cold windy rain for now, snowflakes may not be far. coming up in sports tonight, the terps turn to a linebacker, their fifth stringer and quarterback. could

president obama: there's just no quit in america... and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote...

so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. carol was on the edge of her seat watching the wizards tonight. >> in the studio, wishing i was there, the home opener. a little wizards magic. >> it was so much fun, though. the new look wiz kids were pesky, spirited and so much fun to watch. they thrilled the home crowd with a valiant come back. this one goes down to the final seconds. as he knows, i was screaming at him the whole time. why does there have to be a but? it doesn't have that storybook ending. he struggled from the 4, he missed all five of his shots,

karen serafin did off the bench. this clutch jumper, and puts the wiz with their first lead of the game up 86-84. boston coming right back. paul pierce, why oh, why, he does it again. three of his 27 points on the night. celtics back on top. a one point lead late, four and a half seconds to go. martell webster blowing up a player off the inbound way off the mark. wizards fall just short. 89-86. >> our stars are so bad, you don't know if you're ever going to see daylight again. i didn't know if the sun was coming up tomorrow. i truly didn't. that's how bad it was to me sitting there. i don't know. >> chuck says the sun is coming up tomorrow. the maryland terrapins had only seven practices to turn to their

freshman backup linebacker into their starting quarterback. the terps hosting georgia tech today with sean petty making his debut under center. terps fans trying to stay warm at birds stadium. there's petty who looked calm and cool early on, the yellowjackets jump on him in the first quarter. petty takes a big hit, fumble, georgia tech would recover, not a very nice welcome. it leads to this. a few plays later, tech in the red zone. they pitch to other win smith. in the end zone, a five-yard touchdown run. georgia tech takes the 13-0 lead. petty and the offense start clicking in the second half. the terps in a 27-0 hole. petty off the play fake hits stephan digs and the freshman does the work from there. petty's first touchdown since high school, of course. and maryland is on the board. and check out the way this one ends. final play of the game, petty

and the terps keep fighting. he will just throw this one up for grabs. he puts it in the direction of his play maker. stephan digs. he goes up for it a 23-yard td pass which is all digs. it's not even close to being enough for the terps, they lose 33-13. petty with two td passes is hungry for more. >> it made me feel more confident, i guess you could say. and put more confidence in the team. showing that we can get it done. even with the situation we're in. >> i feel really good about the things we're going to be able to go into next week with what he can do. and i think our guys have confidence in him. >> uva has a lot of confidence after this. visiting the nc state wolfpack. phillips makes his own noise. scramble here in the first quarter, he will turn the

scramble into a keeper. touchdown uva dominant all day. 33-6. virginia with the first acc win of the season. 33-6 again. mls playoffs for d.c. united, hurricane sandy forced to switch venues. the new york red bulls had to come here for the series opener. it's only the beginning of the drama. more continuing tonight at the stadium. dooich d.c. united, first playoff win of the year. roy miller, take another look. his own goaltender, united leads 1-0. 65th minute, here comes karma, corner kick new york at the header, his own goal to tie it at one. 71st minute, it's getting ugly. andy nahar takes a new york player down, gets the yellow

card. look at his reaction. he's not happy. throws a ball back at him, the red card, good-bye. united and the red bulls will not play game two in new york. if it's overtime the red bulls have the home field advantage. >> let's remember to fall back, turn your clocks back. that is your news for now. a new "saturday night live" is next. st safe, everybody.

york mayor, michael bloomberg. >> thank you. good evening, and welcome, everyone. it's now been six days since hurricane sandy hir